Investigation of operating systems used for games platforms

Hey Everyone!
So I want to be talking about operating systems today, annd I shall start by giving an explanation on what it is and how it runs everything.

  Looking at the diagram on the right you can see that the computer is in the middle and that's because its the most important part as it runs and controls everything else.
Think of it like the Mothership is the computer and the peripherals (everything which is connected to the PC) are the rest of the fleet, now they can't do anything unless they are told to by said Mothership. That's what is happening with operating systems, the computer is the power source and gives all the instructions to the peripherals. 
So operating systems can do simple tasks like being able to recognise input from a mouse or speakers and they can access things like your printer and hard drives.     

With the tasks of Operating systems they come down to six separate categories these being:

• Processor management
• Memory management
• Device management
• Storage management
• Application interface
• User interface

PC's nowadays give you more freedom as you can install any operating system you want onto it but usually when a PC is bought it has a package already install as it makes things easier for the user. Plus with consoles they have set operating systems which aren't possible to change as they are hardware specific, so its not possible to run the operating system of a Ps4 on a Wii U.

Picture on the right shows the Operating system for the Playstation 4, which was made with the user in mind as its clear lay out is simple and more beneficial for those who are using it.

To the left here is the OS for the Xbox one, and its very similar to the layout of windows 8 with multiple apps and tabs. Again its extremely user friendly the same as the Playstation 4 and is convenient.    

Moving away from consoles and towards PC's, as I said before when it comes to operating systems you have a lot more freedom with what you want as there are many types that are available a few normal ones would be: 

Mac OS - Now this operating system is super fancy in the world of PCs and Apple products in general are just super expensive but still, the software itself is hardly open source at all and its only available on mac systems with the specific hardware so its fussy to say the least. 



Windows 8 is the most up to date version of windows and I must admit I don't like it but Windows 7 is my jam. Windows in general is a worldwide loved operating system, as its the most user friendly one you can get. When getting a PC more than likely it will come with Windows, its great! Plus with the up coming release of Windows 10, which should be awesome as I have signed myself up for that when its actually out so I can update my windows 7 immediately.  

Linux, is another OS which is quite open source, but it can be complicated.  Depending on which system you get, you may not be able to run games on it. Kali (the picture) its not actually possible to run games on it, however is it possible if you have Linux mint or Ubuntu.  So depending on what you wanted to do with it, you would have to look into things more.

So there are four types of operating systems  which all vary depending on what system they are running on.

Firstly, regarding operating systems we must assess real-time operating systems which are used in an industrial or scientific context. For example, in laboratories there are machines which extract particles for example from a sample. These run regularly and once they are turned on there is no necessary intervention from whomever is using it as the machine can complete the task on its own. Similar to that of a factory setting. This is useful for large scale operations where corporations will need something to be produced at mass and as an operating system, this is very useful for such a need. Single-user, single task operating systems are designed to ensure that the user in charge of operating it can do one thing at a time within their work process. For example, a mobile phone, let's say Apple iOS. In this case only one screen is needed for interaction and basic functions can be carried out, like taking a photo or putting on some music. Another example is Windows CE which was a miniature version of what we know as the Windows operating system. We must also take into account operating systems like Android, as based on Linux. Symbian as developed by Nokia and the Blackberry OS as developed by Research in Motion in 1999 Thirdly there is Single-user multi-tasking, wherein an operating system lets a single user have several operations running at once. As found on Mac OS, for example we are able to scroll through Facebook while downloading a song from iTunes and writing a piece of homework. This is very useful for the individual, much like Single-user, single task. Boot Camp on Mac is an exam of a computer being able to use an operating system which differs from its native. It allows Mac users to hold down their option key during start up and from there choose whether or not they'd like to run Windows or Mac OS. Finally we can assess Multi-user operating systems. This is where multiple users are supported throughout time. For example, in a school or college all computers are run off the mainframe computer from which hundreds of people can use their own. This is useful for big companies with regards to tasks like processing data.

So Mobile devices have their own operating systems just like consoles and PCs and that's because they are very much the same as them but smaller and with less processing power and specifications.
To start with Android with their Linux based OS. This operating system can be run on more devises than other OS and is very free with what you can do with it. Androids main competitors are iOS and I must admit I do prefer iOS, I know there is more freedom with Android but iOS just has better presentation and looks more professional


So lets talk about iOS instead. At the present time they're on their 8th version which is iOS 8, and it can be run on their more newer versions of their products but anything bellow the iphone 5 has stopped updating and is stuck on their highest version. This is very annoying as it means that if you want to keep up to date with their things then you have to keep spending money and update your gadgets. But once you've had an apple product it doesn't feel right to use anything else as its just not as simple, like swapping from an iPhone to a Windows phone wouldn't feel right as it has a completely different layout. Also with iOS you can only run it on apple products so its not possible to put anything else on them either. 

Windows have made a mini version of their OS for tablets and phones, and each time it gets updated so will their phones. At the moment its on Windows 8 but as soon as Windows 10 is released then there will most likely be an updated version available.    
   




 This pie chart shows the shares on the phone market with the different operating systems of 2014 and its very obviously mostly with iOS and Android, with everything else only taking up a small amount of the market.

This is the final proper post, apart from my conclusion of it all, I hope you have enjoyed reading and as always,

Until next time 

Fairwinds internet travellers!

Kristine